Veterans deserve culture of respect

Veterans deserve continued respect

At 11 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month, parades will commence in Nashville and other cities to salute America's military veterans - the significance of the time and date steeped in history and impervious to fashion. In many ways, this day, Veterans Day, is our nation at its best.

It is a time to set aside the disagreements - political, social, economic - that seem to preoccupy Americans more than ever before. The nation's 21 million military veterans, at least for a day, provide the collective conscience of 300 million.

In Tennessee especially, where one in 12 people is a veteran, we do a better job than most of honoring former service members. But here as well as around the country, too many veterans are struggling, more than the average person is aware.

Younger veterans of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have high rates of loss of limb and other disabilities because of IEDs, as well as high rates of substance abuse, suicidal thoughts and depression exacerbated by prolonged tours of duty. Older veterans of Vietnam make up a significant portion of the nation's homeless population. The dwindling number of older veterans of World War II, the Korean War and peacetime service have in common with younger veterans the burden of the limping economy, which adds insult to the injuries they have experienced in service to their country.

If a regular civilian can feel cheated by the lack of accountability, by the growing culture of refusing to pay debts (government or private), how must it feel to those among us who put their hopes and dreams aside for years in order to protect the rest of us, and now find it 10 times harder to realize those dreams?

Today, we honor veterans solemnly and in very visible ceremonies. Tomorrow, and the day after that, are when we should do more: to volunteer our time to working with veterans groups, to donate to programs that end homelessness and unemployment for vets, and in every other way that we can think of to attempt to repay these men and women for their sacrifices.